A conventional cable or the like protection and guide device is illustrated and described in Patent Reference 1 identified below. A cable hose protection and guide chain illustrated Patent Reference 1 is known and includes upper edge portions and lower edge portions. A pair of spaced and opposed link plates having the same shape are connected to each other with a flap and a bottom plate used as connecting members.
A foldable protection element as set forth in Patent Reference 2 identified below is known and is composed of segments injection-molded or cast into a substantially flat structure by one piece from a synthetic substance and connected to each other by a flexible bridge.
Patent Reference 1 is Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei. 10-47441.
Patent Reference 2 is Japanese Patent Marking Publication No. 2001-514725.
Problems to be Solved by the Invention
However, in the protection and guide chain described in the patent reference 1, a number of link plates and flaps and bottom plates, which are their connecting members, must be reliably connected to each other in a longitudinal direction of the chain. Thus there are problems because the structure is complicated and requires numerous components.
Further, since the foldable protection element described in patent reference 2 is injection-molded or cast by one piece, when a wide or long protection and guide device is required, the mold cannot be easily manufactured because there are a physical restrictions and limitations of the mold size. Further, injection molding has further restrictions such as temperature control during the molding process. Further, the cost of long and/or long and wide molds is prohibitive. Further, assembly of the known product is difficult.
Thus, the present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of manufacturing long and/or long and wide cable protection and guide devices by providing a tube type cable or the like protection and guide device easily manufactured by extrusion molding without changing the size of the mold so that assembly is easy. Further, the cable protection and guide device may be moved linearly and flexionally while dimensional stability and torsional rigidity is maintained.
Means for Solving the Problems
The present invention attains the above-mentioned objects. A tube type cable or the like protection and guide device is formed such that a cable or the like is accommodated in a cable accommodating space. An extrusion molded elongated elastomer resin sheet is folded on both sides along a longitudinal direction of the sheet. The elastomer resin sheet includes outer circumferential wall forming portions which adjacently engage each other in a longitudinal direction of the sheet during linear movement and are separated from each other at predetermined pitches in the longitudinal direction of the sheet during flexional movement. A pair of right and left side wall forming portions are continuously disposed on both sides of the outer circumferential wall forming portion so that the side wall forming portions adjacently engage each other in the longitudinal direction of the sheet during linear movement. The side wall forming portions are separated from each other at predetermined pitches in the longitudinal direction of the sheet during flexional movement. Inner circumferential wall forming portions are integrally molded with the pair of right and left side wall forming portions in a hung state and form a flush inner flat surface oppositely disposed on the outer circumferential wall forming portion by closing the inner circumferential wall forming portions while being interdigitatedly fitted to each other along a longitudinal direction of the sheet.
The tube type cable protection and guide device attains the above-mentioned objects in that the elastomer resin sheet is folded into a pair of right and left folded portions extended in a longitudinal direction of the sheet along both sides of said outer circumferential wall forming portion to form a cable accommodating space of a rectangular section.
The tube type cable protection and guide device attains the above-mentioned objects in that a split slit separates the outer circumferential forming portions and the pair of right and left wall forming portions of the elastomer resin sheet from each other at predetermined pitches in the longitudinal direction of the sheet. The split slit traverses at the predetermined pitches and splits the outer circumferential forming portion and the pair of right and left wall forming portions of said elastomer resin sheet during flexional movement while the pair of right and left inner circumferential forming portions remain engaged.
The tube type cable protection and guide device attains the above-mentioned objects in that a concave portion/convex portion engagement mechanism is provided at front and rear positions through the split slit in the outer circumferential wall forming portion and restricts a lateral shift during linear movement.
The tube type cable or the like protection and guide device further attains the above-mentioned objects in that the folded portion includes an arc-shaped groove or a V-shaped groove opened extending along in the longitudinal direction of the inside of the sheet to be folded.
The tube type cable or the like protection and guide device further attains the above-mentioned objects in that the folded portion is molded of a soft elastomer resin.
The tube type cable or the like protection and guide device further attains the above-mentioned objected in that the inner circumferential wall forming portion is integrally molded by multi-color molding using a synthetic polymer resin different from the elastomer resin.
Effects of the Invention
First, a cable accommodating space is formed by folding an extrusion molded elongated elastomer resin sheet on both sides thereof in the longitudinal direction of the sheet. Linear and flexional movements of the cable protection and guide device are repeated. Even if the cable for a particular application is long, a cable protection and guide device may be manufactured to accommodate a long cable. An elastomer resin sheet is extruded to the optimal length required and is a continuous integrated body. Thus, assembly is easy and connection of a number of link plates such as those found in a conventional cable protection and guide device to a specific desired length is unnecessary.
The elastomer resin sheet is continuously extrusion molded irrespective of the length of a cable or the like to be accommodated into a cable accommodating space. As such, various mold sizes for injection molding or casting in accordance with the desired length of a specific cable are not necessary. Even if the elastomer resin sheet is long, it can be easily manufactured without changing the mold size for extrusion molding.
Further, the elastomer resin sheet includes outer circumferential wall forming portions which adjacently engage each other in a longitudinal direction of the sheet during linear movement. The outer circumferential wall forming portions of the elastomer resin sheet are separated from each other at predetermined pitches in the longitudinal direction of the sheet during flexional movement. The elastomer resin sheet further includes a pair of right and left side wall forming portions. The outer circumferential wall forming portion and the pair of right and left side wall forming portions are respectively separated from each other in accordance with a radius during flexional movement. Therefore, smooth flexional movement can be attained.
Further, the elastomer resin sheet includes inner circumferential wall forming portions integrally molded with the pair of right and left side wall forming portions. The inner circumferential wall forming portions are interdigitatedly fitted to each other in a longitudinal direction of the sheet forming a cable accommodating space. Opening and closing of the inner circumferential wall forming portions which may be interdigitatedly fitted to each other is easy. The inner circumferential wall forming portions form a flush inner flat surface when they are interdigitatedly fitted to each other.
Thus the cable can be easily accessed. At the same time compressive stress due to the flexional deformation of the cable during flexional movement and the weight of the cable acts on the interdigitatedly fitted inner circumferential wall forming portions so that the fitting force of the interdigitated fitting is improved. Therefore, the dimensional stability and torsional rigidity of the inner and outer circumferential wall forming portions are ensured and thus the cable accommodating space is maintained during both linear and flexional movement.
Further, the elastomer resin sheet includes an inner circumferential wall forming portions which join in a flush manner forming an inner flat surface. The inner flat surface is formed in the cable accommodating space and does interfere with the protection and guidance of the cable during both linear movement and flexional movement.
The tube type cable protection and guide device includes an elastomer resin sheet folded into a pair of right and left pair of folded portions. The folded portions extend in a longitudinal direction of the sheet along both sides of the outer circumferential wall forming portion to form a cable accommodating space of a rectangular section. The elastomer resin sheet is folded through a folding portion which decreases resilience after folding. Thus a cable accommodating space of a rectangular cross section can be uniformly and reliably assembled in accordance with a predetermined size in the longitudinal direction of the sheet.
Further, the tube type cable protection and guide device includes a split slit which separates the outer circumferential forming portion and the pair of right and left wall forming portions of said elastomer resin sheet from each other at predetermined pitches in the longitudinal direction of the sheet during flexional movement. The split slit traverses the outer circumferential wall folding portions at predetermined pitches and splits the outer circumferential forming portion and the pair of right and left wall forming portions of the elastomer resin sheet while leaving a pair of right and left inner circumferential forming portions in tact. Flexional pitches for forming the cable accommodating space can be variously changed. The pair of right and left inner circumferential wall forming portions form a stable flexional path during the flexional movement so that the cable can be supported during flexional movement.
Further, the tube type cable protection and guide device includes a concave portion/convex portion engagement mechanism at front and rear positions through the split slit in the outer circumferential wall forming portion which restricts a lateral shift during linear movement. The form of the concave/convex engagement mechanism can be variously changed. Additionally, the concave/convex engagement mechanism restricts a lateral shift of the outer circumferential wall forming portion at front and rear positions through the split slit so that snaking movement is avoided and smooth linear movement can be attained.
Further, the tube type cable protection and guide device includes a folded portion comprising an arc-shaped groove or a V-shaped groove. The arc-shaped or V-shaped groove is open on the inside of the fold and extends along the longitudinal direction of the sheet. A cable accommodating space of rectangular cross-section can be reliably shaped for reducing the resilience at the time of folding.
Further, the tube type cable protection and guide device includes folded portion molded of a soft elastomer resin. The folded portion relatively exhibits more flexibility than the outer circumferential wall forming portion and the side wall forming portion so that resilience, which is generated at the time of folding, is reduced. Thus, a folding load during the flexional movement can be reduced.
Additionally, the tube type cable protection and guide device includes an inner circumferential wall forming portion integrally molded by multi-color molding using a synthetic polymer resin different from the elastomer resin. The fitting force of the inner circumferential wall forming portions can be adjusted. Thus, various tube type cable protection and guide devices can be produced which accommodate various cables.
Even if the cable to be accommodated into a cable accommodating space is long body, a tube type cable protection and guide device is easily manufactured by extruding and then punching the extrusion with no need for the use of different sizes of the mold. The inner and outer circumferential wall forming portions are stable and torsionally rigid. The inner and outer circumferential wall forming portions in turn form the cable accommodating space which is able to maintain a rectangular in cross-sectional shape during linear movement and flexional movement of the cable protection and guide device. The cable and guide device is formed by folding an extrusion molded elongated elastomer resin sheet on both sides thereof in a longitudinal direction of the sheet.
First, the inner circumferential wall forming portions in the tube type cable protection and guide device of the present invention are integrally molded in a pair of right and left side wall forming portions. The inner circumferential wall forming portions are interdigitatedly fitted to each other along a longitudinal direction of the sheet and form a cable accommodating space. Different embodiments of the inner circumferential wall forming portions may be used. Different embodiments of the interdigitated fitting may be used.
A pair of right and left folded portions in an elastomer resin sheet in the tube type cable protection and guide device of the present invention can have a folded form such that the folded portions are perpendicularly provided on the outer circumferential wall forming portions. Particularly, in a case of a folded form in which the inside of the cable accommodating space is arc-shaped, resilience after folding liable to occur between the outer circumferential forming portion and the side wall forming portion is decreased.
Further, the materials of the outer circumferential forming portion, the side wall forming portion and the inner circumferential forming portion in the tube type cable protection and guide device of the present invention are preferably a polyester series resin or an olefin series elastomer resin. Other materials may be used. Further, the material of the inner circumferential wall forming portion may be selected and controlled so as to control the fitting force for the inner circumferential wall forming portion in accordance with the number of accommodated cables used. Integral molding using multi-color molding in which the material of the inner circumferential wall forming portion is differentiated from the materials of the outer circumferential wall forming portion and the side wall forming portion may be used for identification of the properties of the cable protection and guide device.